BACKLINE coach Jade Rawlings says former Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney’s knowledge has been invaluable since he joined the club – and particularly in the lead-up to Sunday’s clash against the Dogs at the MCG.

Rawlings said he had been very interested in listening and talking to McCartney about “all things” football since he joined Melbourne earlier this year.

He added that McCartney’s knowledge of the Bulldogs had helped in the lead-up to this weekend. 

“We’ve had [close contests] with the Bulldogs [in recent times] – whether it be the practice match in Ballarat [this year] or the games against them when Brendan [McCartney] was coaching them. Now that Luke Beveridge has got them, it’ll be interesting to see what happens,” he said.

“I went and watched them play against Freo on Sunday and I’ve got a lot of time for them – the way they go about their footy. They have been well drilled by Macca over the past few years and Beveridge is doing a good job with them now.

“We’re expecting a fierce contest – that’s one thing they provide. They’re a very good tackling team and right up for the contest. They spread pretty quickly when they’ve got the footy, so we’ll plan accordingly and hopefully put in things that we want to put in our game style as well.”

Rawlings said the change up in preparation this week was all about reeducating the players on expectations.

“Clearly, last weekend was far from what we were expecting, but there is a lot more that we’re looking forward to in the year and a lot more still to be achieved,” he said.

“We drilled down on expectations in all parts of the ground and hopefully we see a real lift in the output this week.”